Classical: New Releases: Biber: Missa Christi Resurgentis

Like all Biber’s grander religious pieces, his Missa Christi Resurgentis, probably composed for Easter 1674, makes use of the style of multiple choruses of voices and instruments developed from the early-17th-century Venetians. But Biber’s colours, textures and scorings are altogether richer and more vividly contrasted, and his melodic outlines breathe a certain Austro-Germanic directness.

If, in the grander sections, his harmonies sometimes seem limited, that effect is cleverly negated on this disc by the interpolation of four of his eloquent string sonatas, beautifully done. Andrew Manze conducts the English Concert in a reading that makes the most of Biber’s penchant for sheer splendour. Four star